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Wednesday, 3 September 2008

Aren't Apricots just lovely...

The apricot is a wonderful fruit! When I was a student, I used to enjoy a bottle of fresh apricot juice with my lunch. It wasn’t called Apricot juice but rather Apricot Nectar. I think the reason for that is that juice doesn't quite do justice to Apricots. Nectar is more accurate because the juice of the fruit is so luscious. Better than drinking the juice though, is to sink your teeth into the delicious fruit.

It doenst stop there thought. Apricots are great to use in cooking! To most people, if you think of using fruits in cooking, images of desserts come to mind. No doubt apricots are lovely in desserts but they can be used in main meals as well. And not just as a garnish! Try mixing it in salads, or perhaps toss in a few apricots together with some vegetables and roast them, flavour a chicken stew with apricots or why not make an apricot sauce as a marinade? Let your imagination flow and use apricots – as well as other fruits – in your cooking. There’s nothing quite like it!

The only problem I have with Apricots is that they are so darned expensive. Even the dried variety is expensive over here in Malaysia. I've use Apricots in my cooking and these are two original recipes that I have made that feature Apricots.

7 comments:

I've always had the same ideas about Apricots! especially about the nectar vs juice. In my youth, I might have been 20 at the time, I baked the most heavenly apricot pie and still long for the recipe :( no recollection. Now my favorite use for the apricot maybe in Tagines.

I had forgotten about the apricot nectar my mom used to have on hand...obviously I haven't had it in years so I will have to seek it out:D Living in the valley which is a hige fruit and wine growing region in Canada we see crates and crates of apricots in late summer:D

The thing that gets me is that - in addition to being expensive - so often they are flavourless and woolly! Such a shame when they can be so magnificent. My mum makes a jam from dried apricots that is just heaven.

Dried apricots are in abundance in Australia. They are bright orange and terribly, too sweet. Cheap as chips too. Will get you a packet one day. But I read somewhere that they and other dried fruits can be high in the sulphites preservative - the one in red wine that makes some people sleepy. They say to feed children dried fruits instead of sweets - well, too much of it is like eating sweets. So I would give Nathan muruku.Not sure how muruku would taste in this recipe?

Apricots really are wonderful. My hubby loves apricot nectar and when my daughter was small he called it 'elephant juice' for her, which somehow encouraged her to drink it...kids are great! Love the link to the apricot, mushroom and chicken dish, too.